Category Archives: SciFi

The second of what is shaping to be an annual Star Wars movie release under the new Disney regime is in the wild, and from what I’ve seen the fan and critical consensus is mostly positive. Well, I saw the movie Friday morning, and while I didn’t think it was terrible by any means, I do have some comments on what are (to me) some obvious failings.

Hello! Since I have a habit of burying the lede, I’ll just come right out and say it: I’ve signed a contract with Dragon Moon Press to publish my next novel.

Of course I’m overjoyed at this development. Some of the reasons should be obvious: lots of time invested (years!), big milestone, excited by the opportunity for people to see my work, and so on. But I’m also jazzed to be working with Dragon Moon in particular. They’ve in business as a small press since 1993, which by itself is fairly astonishing. Their covers look fantastic. And most importantly, though every Author is different, from the discussions we’ve had I feel they’re a great fit for me and my current goals.

As for the book itself, you can read a bit about the plot and the process of writing it in my post-mortem here. And if you want more…well, you’ll have to wait. This process will in all likelihood not be speedy, but I’m happy to document what I can along the way for those who are interested (I mean, it would interest me, so there must be someone else out there). There will be plenty of time later to get into more detailed marketing stuff, title, cover reveal, sample and so on. For now, I’m simply giving a heads up that good things are on the way. And in the meantime, I have more writing to do….

Bragging time…fellow author and all-around smart guy S.M. White graciously agreed to review The Reintegrators, and he’s written up his thoughts here. As you might have guessed, he was very complementary, so much so that the swelling of my head to gargantuan proportions has nearly left me at a loss for words.

It’s difficult to explain why authors dread seeing the initial reviews of their work. Certainly, the whole point of putting a book out there is for it to be read, and if I’m expecting people to read it then I’m also expecting them to have an opinion about it, and it’s more useful for both me and others if they make their opinions known. And it’s not as if I think the book is bad–clearly I like it quite a bit, or I wouldn’t be offering it to others. But no matter how confident I am, I also know that any judgement of “good” or “bad” is purely subjective, and that there’s a chance I’ve become so involved with the project and so biased that I could no longer make rational judgements about its quality.

So, it’s been somewhat of a relief this past month to see The Reintegrators attracting some really positive reviews. Of course, not everyone is going to love everything about it, especially since some it has some experimental aspects (how many books can you think of where the bulk of the storyline consists of the protagonist doing multiple things at the same time, in different bodies?). But every once in a while I see a review from someone who really “gets it“, and that’s when I feel like all the grinding and decision-making that led me to this point has been worth it.

I’m so glad that Mr. White is also one of those people. Getting praise from a fellow author is especially flattering, because our minds are so heavily involved in making enhancing the quality of prose that it’s easy for us to spot flaws. All I can say in return is that since he obviously has great taste, you should consider checking out his books, especially his new novel The Lonely Man: The Witch’s Price, and also follow him on Twitter.

The Reintegrators cover is final! It’s really happening at last. You can see a flat image on the WIP Reintegrators page, or check out the 3D rendering below (click for full-size):

Up next: Finish acknowledgements. Go through PDF and look for any last-minute formatting issues, upload to Createspace and Amazon, then wait for proof copy to arrive. Post excerpt here and write “Author’s Note” for Amazon. Then: release!

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may already know that I gave up trying to get my first novel The Reintegrators published about a month ago. A full discussion on why, and about traditional vs. self-publishing in general, will have to wait for a full post-mortem on the project. For now I just wanted to take the opportunity to update everyone on my progress as I prepare the book for self-publication.

There are five major tasks I need to complete:

Editing

Cover Design

Proofing

Interior Design

Marketing Materials (blurb, website, etc.)

Task 1 was handed off to the very capable RJ Locksley, and in a very short amount of time (less than half of what she promised), she returned the manuscript to me with around 70 notes and countless other small corrections. As of this writing, I’ve gone through and addressed all but three of the notes, and I plan to have those done sometime tomorrow. For task 2, I’ve contracted Damonza to do the cover design work. Here is what he sent me as his initial drafts (hopefully he’s OK with me posting these):

Design A:

Design B:

I’m still unsure as to which concept I’ll end up going with or how exactly it will differ from the final cover. Any thoughts you have are appreciated!

Finally, here is the blurb for the back cover, which may not be 100% final:

Welcome to Oakmont Academy. Study hard, make friends, and whatever you do, don’t get lost in the Metaverse.

Teddy Cartham is desperate to find a way to help his mysteriously catatonic father, but a crippling panic disorder and his disastrous grades have left him with few options. Teddy believes his luck is changing when he receives an invitation to attend the elite boarding academy where his father once taught, until he uncovers a shocking secret: the seemingly senile math professors at his new school are actually Reintegrators, a secret cult of alternate universe explorers whose origins stretch back to ancient Greece.

Teddy learns he has inherited the mental ability to travel between universes, a gift which brings both opportunity and danger. With the help of his classmates, he searches a maze of bizarre alternate worlds for the key to his father’s shattered mind. But can he overcome his fears and unravel his own twisted memories in time, or will he end up sharing his father’s fate?

And that’s about all I have to show you for now. If you want more updates, follow me here or on Facebook or Twitter, or shoot me an e-mail to be added to my mailing list. Hmm, I suppose I should automate a way to do that…